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New Marijuana Energy Drink Has Australian Parents in an Uproar

Parents are outraged about a product called Cannabis Energy Drink that went on sale at some supermarkets last week, claiming it irresponsibly promotes marijuana as a harmless drug.

Mother-of-two Simone Calnon said local supermarkets selling the Austrian drink were normalising cannabis by making it appear as if it was a regular item that belonged on a shop shelf. She said the energy drink gave young children the impression marijuana was safe, despite it having been linked to health problems including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

The energy drink contains hemp-seed extract but is deemed legal because it does not include THC, the main mind-altering ingredient of marijuana. Ms Calnon complained to Huntingdale IGA staff last week after she and her children saw the product among other soft drinks and bottled water but said her concerns were dismissed.

“I spoke to one of the workers about it and she giggled and said, ‘It’s just a drink’,” she said. “It seems that cannabis is already a cultural norm for some.”

Ms Calnon, who at Armadale Polytechnic West is studying the effects of drugs and alcohol with her classmates Mel Graves and Jaye Baron, said the drinks contravened the State Government strategy to discourage favourable attitudes to drugs. Huntingdale IGA duty manager Eric Ta said that he had not previously considered the social impact of the product but after hearing of the concerns, when contacted byThe West Australian yesterday, he would remove the product immediately.

Distribution firm NBG Pty Ltd, which has delivered 40 cartons around Perth since it hit the Perth market last week, also dismissed the drinks as harmless initially, claiming the link to cannabis was “just a gimmick." But after learning of the parents’ concerns, a spokeswoman said the company would immediately cease selling the product to supermarkets and would send remaining cartons back to the supplier.

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I'm not sure how it is in Australia, but about anywhere in Asia and Europe the latest trend is cannabis leaf prints on clothes and the music promoting legal marijuana is climbing the charts in Europe. Cannabis flavored energy drinks have been around for a long time.

Without hemp/cannabis sails and rigs on his ship, Dutch navigator Janszoon would probably not have discovered Australia in 1606. In this perspective it's ignorant to be so oversensitive to cannabis products.

It's a dumb marketing gimmick. Putting the drink in a flashy green can with a big pot leaf on it, and naming the drink " Cannabis" might be throwing a negative light on the benefits of hemp seed oil, and the potentially huge health benefits of cannabis oil.

I'm happy to see successful advances in the research and testing of cannabis oil, and this is just going to hinder the progress of it, and add confusion to the general public. I'd wager that most of the public doesn't even understand the differences between hemp seed oil, which is sort of a supplement, and cannabis oil, which I think in the near future we will see being used more and more to treat some major serious conditions and illnesses. Hell, there's a lot of people out there that believe cannabis oil can cure cancer.

I wonder if there's even enough hemp seed oil in the drink to get some of the purported benefits.

Thanks for posting that. I realize my post kinda strayed away from that mom's concern about marijuana being associated with the drink. It just made me think of the public forming opinions when they're generally uninformed and sometimes misled.

It's a stupid gimmick indeed. Though cannabis is an ingredient in the drink. Just as most supermarkets in the Netherlands sell hemp seed protein, cannabis plant material is becoming a normal food.

This outrage is not so different from the outrage that occurred when the Body Shop started to put up cannabis leaf posters for their hemp oil personal care products.
The products have been for sale in 1600 shops in 100+ countries for decades without a problem, but once it is advertised that hemp oil comes from the cannabis plant then the public is outraged because it touches a taboo.

IMHO this taboo is related to the concept that cannabis is a perceived as a drug while alcohol, tobacco and energy drinks are not. Alcohol, tobacco and energy drinks can be advertised and displayed without such taboo, while its unthinkable for cannabis products.

One thing that bothers me is: what does this have to do with kids? Sure energy drinks are consumed by kids, but adults as well. Does the impression on kids mean that a product should be disallowed to adults? Are energy drinks not drugs themselves?